Romans 15:14-15, “My brothers and sister, I myself am convinced about you that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, and able to instruct one another. Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God…”
Romans chapters 12–15 is about the implications of the good news—the application of it. If you believe the gospel of grace—that's wonderful! But do you know what it means for your life beyond just what you know, beyond just the fact that this sets eternity for you—eternity with Christ? Do you know what the good news means for your life here and now?
Jesus Christ came in the flesh and gave His life for you, and in Him you have peace with God, real life, hope. But what does that mean for your relationships with other people? What does that mean for the way you relate to the government? What does that mean for the decisions you make about when and how to serve others? The gospel is more than the hereafter, it’s about now. It touches every area of life—everything.
Romans 15:15, “Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God.”
People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed. Paul says, “I have written to remind you more boldly…” Being reminded more boldly is a way of saying: we need to drive the truth of the gospel deeper into every area of life. And the Roman believers apparently still had some prejudice towards each other, between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. Reminding them more boldly on that point is about showing them: if you believe that Jesus Christ has died to reconcile all people to God—if you believe that, and He did it not based on their good works, not based on their religious merits—are you taking that seriously? Are you considering what that means? It means: let's live together like that's true. Let's live in unity.
In other words, Paul is saying, I’m not writing to you to tell you something you already know, I’m writing to tell you something that you need to take more seriously.
Taking the gospel deeper—right down into every area of life is what maturing and growing in Jesus Christ is all about. The next thing, the new thing, the deeper things are never something other than Jesus and what He's done for us. It’s how who He is and what He’s done changes everything.
What does this look like when it happens in the life of a believer? Let me just give you an example—Some of you might remember a story I’ve told before about a woman who lived in the village where we served in the Philippines. She was one of the first believers there, and not too long after she trusted Christ, something really terrible happened in her life. I won’t go into all the details, but she was a single mother at the time, barely hanging on, and she had no money. She had a little bit of land that came to her at great cost, and she had invested everything she had to plant on that land to care for her kids.
And then one day she found out that some other members of her family sold the land right out from underneath her, taking her only prospects for making a living going forward. They took it. To this day it makes me angry when I think about that—when I think about what they did—until I remember what she said.
She came to our house not long after this had happened, and she told my wife Bana, “I’ve been so angry about this. And right now, I’m angry about this. And I want to keep being angry—but I can’t. I can’t. Because when I think about what God has forgiven me, how He’s loved me, how good He’s been to me—my sin is just as bad as theirs. Honestly, as I think about it, my sin is worse than theirs. And I can’t stay angry. I’m going to forgive them. I’m going to forgive them. And I truly want nothing more than for them to know Christ. I think about what God has done for me, and I want them to have that too. And I know God’s going to take care of me,” she said. “I know God’s going to take care of me. I know He will.”
A brand-new Christian, walking with God for just a month at that point, and what did she do?
Forgiving other people for the wrongs they’ve done us is one of the hardest things we face in life– it truly is. How was she able to do that? She was a brand-new believer. She didn’t know much about the Bible either. But it didn’t matter because she was thinking not just what the gospel is but what it really means. And she took it seriously. She took the good news of Jesus boldly and applied it into the hardest thing she was facing in life, and she added it up…
If God would stop at nothing to save me—if He’d give the life of His own Son to rescue me and forgive me—was He going to abandon me now? Of course not. Of course not. So, I’m not going to worry about what they took. And if God would stop at nothing to save me—if He’d give His own life to forgive me my sin—if God refuses to hang on to my sin, why should I hang on to theirs? I can’t. I won’t. I’m letting it go.
Do you need to be able to do that? You do. We do. Because, listen—we can walk with God for decades, and we can know all the things. We can know the difference between a cubit and a span, and the difference between cherubim and seraphim, right? We can have this broad knowledge of theology and the Bible and yet not use that knowledge to do what that woman did. We need to be able to see what the gospel means and take it boldly right down into the center of our lives. That’s depth. That’s what it means to go deeper in our walk with God. It’s not constantly searching for something new—it’s being reminded of the truth and seeing how deep it runs.
Romans chapters 12–15 is about the implications of the good news—the application of it. If you believe the gospel of grace—that's wonderful! But do you know what it means for your life beyond just what you know, beyond just the fact that this sets eternity for you—eternity with Christ? Do you know what the good news means for your life here and now?
Jesus Christ came in the flesh and gave His life for you, and in Him you have peace with God, real life, hope. But what does that mean for your relationships with other people? What does that mean for the way you relate to the government? What does that mean for the decisions you make about when and how to serve others? The gospel is more than the hereafter, it’s about now. It touches every area of life—everything.
Romans 15:15, “Nevertheless, I have written to remind you more boldly on some points because of the grace given me by God.”
People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed. Paul says, “I have written to remind you more boldly…” Being reminded more boldly is a way of saying: we need to drive the truth of the gospel deeper into every area of life. And the Roman believers apparently still had some prejudice towards each other, between the Jewish and Gentile Christians. Reminding them more boldly on that point is about showing them: if you believe that Jesus Christ has died to reconcile all people to God—if you believe that, and He did it not based on their good works, not based on their religious merits—are you taking that seriously? Are you considering what that means? It means: let's live together like that's true. Let's live in unity.
In other words, Paul is saying, I’m not writing to you to tell you something you already know, I’m writing to tell you something that you need to take more seriously.
Taking the gospel deeper—right down into every area of life is what maturing and growing in Jesus Christ is all about. The next thing, the new thing, the deeper things are never something other than Jesus and what He's done for us. It’s how who He is and what He’s done changes everything.
What does this look like when it happens in the life of a believer? Let me just give you an example—Some of you might remember a story I’ve told before about a woman who lived in the village where we served in the Philippines. She was one of the first believers there, and not too long after she trusted Christ, something really terrible happened in her life. I won’t go into all the details, but she was a single mother at the time, barely hanging on, and she had no money. She had a little bit of land that came to her at great cost, and she had invested everything she had to plant on that land to care for her kids.
And then one day she found out that some other members of her family sold the land right out from underneath her, taking her only prospects for making a living going forward. They took it. To this day it makes me angry when I think about that—when I think about what they did—until I remember what she said.
She came to our house not long after this had happened, and she told my wife Bana, “I’ve been so angry about this. And right now, I’m angry about this. And I want to keep being angry—but I can’t. I can’t. Because when I think about what God has forgiven me, how He’s loved me, how good He’s been to me—my sin is just as bad as theirs. Honestly, as I think about it, my sin is worse than theirs. And I can’t stay angry. I’m going to forgive them. I’m going to forgive them. And I truly want nothing more than for them to know Christ. I think about what God has done for me, and I want them to have that too. And I know God’s going to take care of me,” she said. “I know God’s going to take care of me. I know He will.”
A brand-new Christian, walking with God for just a month at that point, and what did she do?
Forgiving other people for the wrongs they’ve done us is one of the hardest things we face in life– it truly is. How was she able to do that? She was a brand-new believer. She didn’t know much about the Bible either. But it didn’t matter because she was thinking not just what the gospel is but what it really means. And she took it seriously. She took the good news of Jesus boldly and applied it into the hardest thing she was facing in life, and she added it up…
If God would stop at nothing to save me—if He’d give the life of His own Son to rescue me and forgive me—was He going to abandon me now? Of course not. Of course not. So, I’m not going to worry about what they took. And if God would stop at nothing to save me—if He’d give His own life to forgive me my sin—if God refuses to hang on to my sin, why should I hang on to theirs? I can’t. I won’t. I’m letting it go.
Do you need to be able to do that? You do. We do. Because, listen—we can walk with God for decades, and we can know all the things. We can know the difference between a cubit and a span, and the difference between cherubim and seraphim, right? We can have this broad knowledge of theology and the Bible and yet not use that knowledge to do what that woman did. We need to be able to see what the gospel means and take it boldly right down into the center of our lives. That’s depth. That’s what it means to go deeper in our walk with God. It’s not constantly searching for something new—it’s being reminded of the truth and seeing how deep it runs.
by Jared Major
Recent
Archive
2025
No Comments